Journey to the Fringe

This week on Journey to the Fringe, We're lookig, ever so breifly (and spookily) at a terrifying piece of real-world tech news just in time for Halloween: biological data centers. Traditional silicon chips are out, and human neurons are in. We dive into the National University of Singapore's newest facility, where computers are powered by hundreds of thousands of living, lab-grown brain cells fed on a life-support cocktail of sugar and micronutrients.While the tech world praises the low energy consumption, we are asking the important questions. Are we inching closer to a Soylent Green reality? Will these "zombie data centers" end up haunted by the human cells powering them? Tune in as we break down the eerie reality of biological computing, flesh-and-blood servers, and the paranormal implications of the ultimate ghost in the machine.https://www.pressreader.com/singapore/the-straits-times/20260816/281608132264471Have an idea for an episode or a question? You can now leave us a voicemail! Click here!

A deep‑dive mini into the real origins of Halloween, tracing the holiday back to the ancient Gaelic festival of Samhain, a liminal, ghost‑friendly, bonfire‑heavy celebration marking the shift into winter. Taylor and Chelsea explore fairies, divination rituals, mumming, guising, and how these traditions evolved into modern Halloween customs like costumes and trick‑or‑treating.In this episode, Taylor and Chelsie take a surprisingly rich detour into the roots of Halloween far beyond candy aisles and plastic skeletons. Drawing from the ancient Gaelic festival of Samhain, they unpack how the end of the harvest season and the “darker half of the year” shaped beliefs about thinning veils, visiting spirits, and protective rituals.The conversation moves through centuries of tradition: communal bonfires meant to mimic the sun, offerings left for fairies, divination rituals involving hazelnuts and egg whites, and the early forms of mumming and guising that eventually became trick‑or‑treating. Chelsea reacts to the wilder historical costumes, including the Welsh horse‑skull “white mare”, while Taylor traces how these practices survived through oral tradition, Christian reinterpretation, and immigration to North America.It’s a folklore‑rich, surprisingly cozy exploration of how a festival for the dead became one of the most beloved holidays of the living.Have an idea for an episode or a question? You can now leave us a voicemail! Click here!

A whistleblower claims the CIA secretly accessed consumer DNA databases like 23andMe and Ancestry to hunt for alleged alien–human hybrids linked to the so‑called Nordic extraterrestrials — tall, blond beings supposedly hiding in small Colorado towns. Meanwhile, a Canadian filmmaker has officially set a Guinness World Record for producing the most live‑action Bigfoot movies, highlighting the global spread of Sasquatch lore. We break down both stories, from government secrecy to cryptid cinema’s booming cultural footprint.In this episode, we dive into two wildly different but strangely complementary corners of the fringe world.First, we unpack the viral claims that the CIA has been quietly accessing consumer DNA databases, including 23andMe and Ancestry, through alleged “backdoor” channels to identify people with supposed extraterrestrial ancestry. Philosopher Jason Reza Jorjani says retired Army remote viewer Lyn Buchanan told him the agency was screening for a mysterious genetic variance tied to the “Nordics,” a long‑standing UFO‑lore species described as tall, blond, blue‑eyed beings living incognito in small American towns. Despite the sensational nature of the allegations, no public evidence supports the idea that the CIA ever searched for alien‑human hybrids, and experts emphasize the scientific implausibility of such DNA markers. Still, the story taps into ongoing public fascination with UAPs, remote viewing history, and privacy concerns around genetic testing.Then we shift to Canada, where filmmaker Elliott Scott has officially entered the Guinness Book of World Records for producing the most live‑action Bigfoot films. Announced at Winnipeg’s Horror Con, the record highlights both Scott’s prolific output and the global diversity of Bigfoot traditions — from Pacific Northwest Sasquatch to Japanese variants he plans to explore in his next film. The achievement underscores how cryptid cinema continues to thrive, fueled by cultural storytelling, regional folklore, and a dedicated fan base.Together, these stories reveal how myths, conspiracies, and creative passion keep the fringe world very much alive.https://www.vice.com/en/article/a-whistleblower-claims-the-cia-is-searching-dna-sites-for-alien-human-hybrids/https://globalnews.ca/news/12056886/canadian-filmmaker-sets-record-for-most-bigfoot-live-action-movies/Have an idea for an episode or a question? You can now leave us a voicemail! Click here!

Buckle up, Fringe travelers — Chelsie’s flying you (telepathically, which may somehow have an even higher carbon‑footprint) through some of the world’s most haunted places, from Chile’s perfectly preserved ghost towns to Peru’s subterranean torture chambers, London’s royal specters, and a Czech castle allegedly built over a literal gateway to hell. We wander Africa’s spiritually charged Ouidah, where Vodun and ancestral memory blur the line between haunting and living tradition, dip into India’s legally‑forbidden-after-dark cursed fort, and meet headless monks in a Philippine hotel. Australia’s Black Mountain breathes, Antarctica’s Shackleton’s Hut remembers, and Canada’s Banff Springs keeps its ghosts close behind sealed doors. It’s a global sampler of hauntings, folklore, trauma, and lingering energy — a cozy Halloween passport stamp collection for anyone who loves a good ghost story and a thinner veil.Have an idea for an episode or a question? You can now leave us a voicemail! Click here!

In this Fringey Mini, we're diging into a new spin on rich people's EMOceans in an NPR piece about North Carolina’s stilt houses literally giving up and dropping into the Atlantic. Thanks to FEMA’s backwards insurance rules, homeowners are financially rewarded for letting their doomed beach houses collapse instead of removing them safely — leaving behind mountains of debris, polluted beaches, and a whole lot of rich‑people denial. It’s climate change, bad policy, and wooden toothpick stilts all coming together in an absolutley mind numbing disaster.https://www.npr.org/2026/09/17/nx-s1-5844642/fema-homes-collapse-ocean-climate-north-carolina-maineHave an idea for an episode or a question? You can now leave us a voicemail! Click here!